Hard work finally paying off for Chris Higgins with Canucks

Vancouver Canucks’ Chris Higgins, centre, celebrates his goal against the Boston Bruins with teammates Dan Hamhuis, back left, Chris Tanev and Mike Santorelli, right, during second period NHL hockey action in Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday, December 14, 2013.

Photograph by: DARRYL DYCK
, THE CANADIAN PRESS

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- This is the Chris Higgins that John Tortorella envisioned four years ago.

Tortorella loved Higgins for the 55 games he coached him back in the 2009-10 season with the New York Rangers, but there was just one problem. Higgins couldn’t score.

He managed just six goals and 14 points before the Rangers dealt the pending unrestricted free agent to the Calgary Flames at the trade deadline.

Tortorella remembers telling Higgins that he hoped to get him back.

“I said I’m going to do everything I can to get you back because it was just one of those situations where he was doing everything right, but just could not score a goal,” Tortorella said Monday.

It has taken a little longer than he hoped, but Tortorella finally has Higgins back on his team. And this Chris Higgins is scoring.

Higgins carries a career-best five-game points streak into Tuesday night’s game against the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center in blustery St. Paul. His 10 goals are third best on the Vancouver Canucks, trailing only the 15 by linemate Ryan Kesler and the 11 that Daniel Sedin has potted.

“Right now he is right back at it,” Tortorella said. “He is a huge part of our team and just with the little things he has been very important to us.”

The line of Higgins, Kesler and Mike Santorelli has largely carried the Canucks on their current seven-game winning streak.

“I think we are just reading off each other well,” Higgins said after Monday’s practice. “Our collective hockey sense is pretty high, our cycle game is pretty strong as far as always having a guy in front and high and guy working the corner. We have won a lot of puck battles in the offensive end and kept the play alive and that has allowed us to get a lot more offensive opportunities.”

Higgins’ game has always been about hard work. He’s excellent along the boards and wins a lot of puck battles, which of course Tortorella absolutely loves. There are not a lot of ups and downs in his game.

Higgins credits that blue-collar work ethic with his upbringing on Long Island in New York. HIs parents instilled in their children the importance of hard work. Higgins’ father Bobby is a New York City firefighter, while his brother Kevin is a New York City police officer.

“I’d like to be the skill guy, it’s a lot easier reputation to have,” Higgins said with a smile. “But I really don’t know any other way to play. That is kind of the way I was brought up. I think it has a lot to do with my dad and the way he raised me and just learning to never quit on any play.

“It goes beyond sports. It was the same thing with school. I don’t think I was the smartest kid in class, but I certainly worked at it and I certainly studied hard.”

Again, all that hard work in the classroom paid off as Higgins landed a scholarship to play at Yale University.

HIggins’ work ethic and the many intangibles he brings do not go unnoticed by his teammates.

“He is a guy who you can trust and depend on,” Kesler said. “He always makes the right play, works hard at both ends of the rink and he is a guy that doesn’t turn the puck over too much, if at all. I can’t say enough good things about him.”

“He does all the little details that maybe go unnoticed,” added goalie Roberto Luongo. “He does all the little things right, whether that’s in his own zone or that’s forechecking, and they make a big difference over the long haul. Given the fact that he can also contribute offensively makes him a pretty complete player.”

That Higgins is contributing more offensively should not come as a complete surprise. He did score more than 20 goals three straight seasons after breaking into the league with the Montreal Canadiens in 2005-06.

Higgins thinks the road he has travelled since leaving Montreal -- the Canucks are his fourth post-Canadiens team -- has helped him.

“I think getting traded a couple of times has helped make me a better player, a better professional. “Just seeing how different guys around the league approach the game I have been able to pick up different things. Offensively, I don’t think there is one thing or another that has made a difference this season. I am just bearing down on my chances and putting them in the net.”

That wasn’t something he could not do in his previous stint under Tortorella.

“I didn’t play my best in New York and I was excited about the opportunity to play for him again and I really wanted to play well for him because I felt like I had more to give than the first time around,” Higgins said.

Higgins also thinks the stability he has found in Vancouver has contributed to his improved play. He feels like he has finally found another hockey home and signed a four-year contract worth $2.5 million a season with the Canucks this past summer.

“I think it helps everything, it helps hockey, it helps your life, helps your family,” Higgins said of that stability. “It just brings a sense of calm to your life and I appreciate it.”

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